Harding Park will host 2020 PGA Championship and 2025 Presidents Cup

The long-running mystery over Harding Park’s future as a tournament host gained some clarity Thursday – a major championship is on the way to San Francisco’s prized municipal course.

San Francisco’s Harding Park will host the PGA Championship in 2020 and the Presidents Cup five years later. (Chronicle photo)

The 2020 PGA Championship will be played at Harding, according to sources. An official announcement will be made Wednesday at City Hall, with Mayor Ed Lee, PGA of America President Ted Bishop and PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem among those in attendance at a news conference.

Harding Park also will host the Presidents Cup in 2025, sources said. That match-play event, pitting the United States against an International team, was held at Harding in October 2009 (and won by the U.S.).

The PGA will become the first major championship played on the city-owned layout alongside Lake Merced. The nearby Olympic Club has hosted five U.S. Opens, most recently in 2012.

NBC analyst Johnny Miller, a San Francisco native and two-time major champion, sounded enthusiastic about the news – provided PGA of America officials toughen up the course.

“I think Harding will need 4-to-5 inch rough,” Miller said in a text message. “This will offset the lack of tour length. … It will be a very successful PGA Championship – the players will love coming to San Francisco!”

Miller predicted the winning score would be about 12-under if Harding, which plays at par-72 for the public, is changed to a par-71. The course played at par-70 for the American Express Championship in 2005, and Tiger Woods and John Daly led the pack at 10-under. (Woods won in a playoff.)

One interesting twist: The PGA, traditionally held in August as the final major on golf’s calendar, could move to the spring in 2020. The Olympics are scheduled for July 24 to August 9 in Tokyo, and golf becomes an Olympic sport again in 2016.

That means the ’20 PGA must move — possibly ahead to May, maybe back to September.

Wednesday’s news conference might address other elements of Harding’s future. The PGA Tour’s contract with the city calls for a playoff event there in 2016, and rumors also persist about next year’s Match Play Championship.

The PGA of America and PGA Tour are separate entities. The city’s long-term agreement is with the tour, but the PGA of America has been seeking a West Coast venue for the PGA Championship. The tournament has not been held on the West Coast since 1998, when it was played at Sahalee Country Club outside Seattle.

Three years ago, San Diego officials approached the PGA of America with interest in holding the event at Torrey Pines. The United States Golf Association subsequently agreed to bring the U.S. Open back to Torrey in 2021, prompting PGA officials to search for another West Coast site.

Major championships on the West Coast often generate higher-than-usual television ratings, because the weekend rounds can be broadcast in prime time in the East. That’s no doubt one big reason PGA officials found Harding appealing.

Thursday’s news on the 2020 PGA at Harding sets up Northern California for a tantalizing run of marquee tournaments. The U.S. Open returns to Pebble Beach in 2019, and Olympic Club officials hope to land another Open in 2023 or ’24.

Several significant tour events have been held at Harding Park since the course was refurbished in 2002 and ’03, including the AMEX in 2005, the Presidents Cup in ’09 and the Schwab Cup — the season-ending event on the Champions Tour — in 2010, ’11 and ’13.

Woods, incidentally, will be 44 at the time of the 2020 PGA Championship. Phil Mickelson turns 50 in June 2020.